The Six Nouns
By Michael B. Schub, Ithaca, New York
Qlll.l tabbat yadä 'abi lahabin
"The hands of Abü Lahab will perish."
In his Mufassal} az-Zamahsari lists six nouns (viz. 'ah "father"; 'dh
"brother"; hum "father-in-law"; lian "thing"; fü "mouth"; and dü
"belonging to"), which, after rejecting the tanwin, lengthen the preceding
vowel in accordance with the three cases ; thus on the pattern of 'ab, we
have 'ahü for the nominative case, 'abi for the genitive case, and 'ahä
for accusative ease.''
Beockelmann^ considers this class to be of "doubtless" bi-radical
Proto-Semitic origin; Nöldeke,* on the other hand, considers them to
be of tri-radical Proto-Semitic origin, having a vowel as the third root
letter.
As may be expected, only the form with the vowel signifying the
oblique case exists for the status constructus and pronominalis of this
class^ in Hebrew: thus 'äbi-, 'äbiw, etc. Again, as expected, Ethiopic
retains for this class' the distinction between the nominative and the
accusative: nominative with suflSx: 'ahüfca; accusative with suffix:
'abälca.
Aramaic,' on the other hand, retains the old nominative case ending
u for the status pronominalis: e.g. 'abülc "your father."
The historical tendency in Arabic is to use the oblique ending (-in)
rather than the nominative ending (-ün) for all syntactic environments
of the sound plurals.^ (This situation already obtains in Hebrew). The
1 P. 9 § 16 and p. 44 § 130 — Ed. J. B. Broch. Christiania 1869.
^ W.Wright: A Grammar of the Arabic Language. Cambridge 1967, I,
p. 249A.
' C. Brockelmann : Grundriß der Vergleichenden Grammatik der semitischen
Sprachen. Berlin 1908, I, p. 331, § 115.
* Th. Nöldeke : Neue Beiträge zur semitischen Sprachwissenschaft. Stra߬
burg 1910, p. 112 mid. Cf. also H. Fleisch: Traiti de Philologie Arabe. Vol. 1.
Beyrouth 1961. (Recherches publiees sous la direction de ITnstitut de
Lettres Orientales de Beyrouth. 16.), p. 252ff., § 52aff.
* To the extent to which it exists.
" F. Prätorius: Aethiop. Gram. Karlsruhe [etc.] 1886, p. 121.
' C. Bbockelmann: Syr. Gram.^ Berhn 1912, p. 58 § 163.
* Dialeotal misilmin for Classical muslimüna, etc.
16 ZDMG 128/2
224 Michael B. Schub
"six nouns," however, are an exception to this hnguistic drift: Neo-
Arabic* has forms such as 'abü Zaid ("Zaid's father") and 'abük ("your m.s. father") (and also the frozen form 'Aböna "Father" — the form of
address to a priest), which are used in all syntactic contexts; no *'abik
(surprisingly) nor *'abäk (not so surprisingly) for "your father" obtains to any significant extent^" in the modern dialects.
In Middle Arabic^' as well, 'abü predominates in status constructus
and pronominahs. J. Blau'* suggests the possibility that this fact may
be attributed to Aramaic influence.
E. Mainz'^ has found one example of 'ahü for the genitive in Modern
Literary Arabic.
Very few instances of this phenomenon are known in Classical Arabic.'*
In his KaSSäf, az-Zamah§ari sheds some light on this problem: he
states that if a man becomes known by his kunya rather than his ism,
his kunya may be used in the nominative case for all three syntactic
environments; thus, in the verse under discussion, one may read yadä
*Abü Lahab, as one might say 'Ali bn 'abü Tälib }^
Az-Zamajjsari claims that this is permissible so that a nickname
would have a frozen form which would not make diflficulties for the
listener; [his anti-Mu'tazilite editor" (the Alexandrian jurist Ahmad
ibn Muhammad ibn Man§ür ibn al-Munayyir, d. 1284) infers from this
statement the historical primacy of the nominative case in Arabic]
Az-Zama^iSari himself appears'^ to have used this form in his own
commentary. Explicating the verse Q2.34, he states": kamä sagadati
l-malä'ikatu li-'Ädama wa-'Abü Yüsuf, "as the angels prostrated them¬
selves to Adam and (to) the Father of Joseph." Although the editor*"*
suggests a possible emendation to the dual here, we may conclude from
the above discussion that Jacob was conceived of primarily in his
capacity as Joseph's father in Z.'s mind, and Z. accordingly employed
the nominative form of the kunya in this genitive environment.
" As in Damascene Ar. cf. H. Grotzfeld: Syr. Arab. Oram. Wiesbaden
1965, p. 150.
C. Rabin: Ancient West Arabian. London 1951, pp. 70ff.
" J. Blau: A Grammar of Christian Arabic. Louvain 1966—67, Vol. II,
p. 317ff. 12 J. Blau, op. cit. Vol. II, p. 318, n. 4.
1' E. Mainz: Zur Grammatik des Modemen Schriftarabisch. Dissertation
Hamburg 1931, P. 19. " J. Blau, op. cit., p. 319, n. 5.
" P. 4.814, 1. 5—8; Ed. M. H. Ahmad. Cairo: Matba'at al-istiqäma 1940.
1' Al-Baidäwi also supplies these forms, but he offers no explanation.
" Cf. P. 4.814, n. 2.
1' If this were a mere copyist's error, I think the editor would have taken the liberty to correct it.
" P. 1.126 in fme and p. 1.127 first hne. .
2° P. 1.127, n. 1. The editor is Mustafä Husain Ai^MAO.
The Six Nouns 225
I suspect that future research focused on the kunya apphed to natural
objects,** of the type 'ahü 'Ayyüb, Job's father, the "patient" camel;
and 'abü l-husain, the father of the little fort, the fox, will bear out az-
Zamajisari's position. I have found one example from Ibn al-Baitär**:
wa-za'ama qaumi"'^ 'annahü yäqüt"" habaSiy"" mvlavnvan^'"' wa-yusam- münahü bi-l-maSric^ 'ahü qalamün, "People think that it (a precious stone)
is a colored Ethiopian sapphire, and they call it 'abü qalamün".*^ (since
the kunya is here the second object of a verba cordis, one expects the
accusative 'ahä.)
Az-Zamal}sari's explanation has more vahdity for Modern Standard
Arabic than the sole example provided by Mainz would seem to imply.
In a story by Tawfiq YOsuf 'Avvwäd, one encounters the expressions
yä 'Abü Husün^^ (requiring the accusative in Cl. A.) and qalb 'Ahü
Husün^ (requiring the genitive in Cl. A.) (as well as min yadi 'ahünä
Qistin,^^ the last of which can only be considered a form bon-owed from
the colloquial; see above). The author*' explains his usage thus: the
townfolk would give to every man named Joseph the kunya "'Abü
Husün."**
This process holds valid in Modern Literary Arabic for nommes de
guerre as well. In a recent Al-Ahräm,** one reads: 'istaqbala r-Ra'isu
'Anwaru s-Sädäti 'amsi s-Sayyida Saläh Halaf ('Abü 'Ayäd), "Yesterday
President Sadat met Mr. S. H. ('Abü 'Ayäd)."
In conclusion, az-Zamafesari's commentary, as well as his ovm usage,
indicate an early tendency within Classical Arabic for the preponderance
of the nominative case ofthe "six nouns" in the status constructus and
pronominalis. Such forms are well attested for Middle Arabic as well as
for the Modern Arabic dialects ; this study demonstrates that such forms
are more prevalent in Classical Arabic, and also in Modern Literary
Arabic, than was previously assumed.*"
21 Wright, I, p. 108A.
22 Cf. R. DozY: Supplement aux Dictionaires Arabes. Leiden. 1967, Vol. I,
p. 6b in fine.
2' The mudäf here, which resembles an Arabic sound plural in the nomi¬
native, is not problematic: it is an adaptation of Ü7toKaXa,u.ou. Cf. Dozy,
loc. oit.
21 Qisa? min T. Y. 'Awwad. Beirut: Där al-Kutub .al-Lubnäni 1962,
p. 168, 1. 1. " Op. cit., p. 170, 1. 3.
2« Op. cit., p. 170, mid. 27 Qp. cit., p. 168, 1. 2—4.
28 The possibility exists tliat this is a direct reference to az-Zamahsari's dictum.
2» Al-Ahräm. Cairo, Fri., Nov. 22, 1974; fii'st page picture caption.
Cf., however, J. Blau: Remarks on Some Syntactic Trends in Modern
Staiulard Arabic. In: Israel Oriental Studies 3 (1973), p. 196 in fine. Blau
refers to two examples of '06« and one of dü.
16»
/ Circumstaneial Clauses in some Arabic Dialects
By Jtjdith Rosenhouse, Haifa
\ '■■
Introduction
The circumstaneial clause (al-^umla al-haliyya in Arabic) is a sentence
structure tjrpical of Arabic and as such has been vastly studied.' In spite
of that, the descriptions in various grammar book,s are not too clear.
They usually distinguish between syndetic and asjmdetic variants,
emphasize negative forms and the use or omission of the particle qad
at the head of the circumstaneial clause.
The object ofthe present study is to investigate the principal structural
elements of this type of clauses, the new lines of development in the modern
dialects (as compared with Classical or Literary Arabic) and the markers
which enable correct identification of circumstaneial clauses in cases of
surface ambiguities.
The material used for this study includes a few Eastern and Western
^ J dialects, i.e. Syria, Israel, Egypt, Iraq and Morocco — just enough to
indicate the major outlines of similarity and dissimiliarity among the
dialects. In addition, a few grammar books of the Classical language
f have been reviewed, for the comparison between the dialects and Classical
Arabic.
Before proceeding, it would be convenient to sum up the basic structural
elements of circumstaneial clauses.
a. The syndetic circum. clause is nominal (in the Arabic grammar sense)
that is to say, the subordinating conjunction /wa/^ is followed by the
subject, which is very often a pronoun, and after it stands the predicate,
usually also a nominal member such as an adjective or an adverb.
b. The asyndetic circum. clause is verbal (in the Arabic grammar sense),
i.e., it begins with a verbal form, which may be preceded by qad (the
finite verb form in Arabic includes the person of the subject).
These two patterns can be expanded by adjectivals and adverbials at will.
Circumstaneial clauses usually follow the main clause (in Classical Arabic
' In almost every grammar book this clause type is mentioned more or
less in detail — see e.g. Bbockelmann, Cowell, Eewin, Gbotzfeld
Weight.
2 In the dialects /wa/ is pronounced as /wi, W9, w, u/ etc. according to the
dialect and the phonetic conditions.
